Rub a Dub Dub

One of their favorite activities... Bath Time!!


Bella insists on putting toys on top of Julietta's head, and pouring water on her. Julietta is pretty fierce, though. She has learned quickly how to handle having a big sister. I have already caught myself saying to Arabella, "Bella, you aren't the boss." which was probably the sentence my parents used most often with me when I was growing up with a younger brother.

Here are some of my favorite images from their bath time a few days ago. I had quite a few pictures of them just sitting and looking at me, cute as can be, but those didn't make it into my favorites folder. I chose the images that really made me laugh or feel something, although maybe not technically perfect... the ones that told more of a story. Little by little my style is emerging.

20 Houses

A few nights ago I started thinking about all of the different houses and apartments I've lived in throughout my life. I counted 20. That seems like a lot to me, especially since I lived in the same house from ages five to 18. I went a bit stir crazy after high school, I guess.

Julietta, my little "artiste", helping me unpack the arts and crafts box.

While packing up this one, I realized that each time I've packed up a house, I've been eager to get to the next place. I've never felt very attached or nostalgic. I usually even leave a few days early because I can't wait for what lies ahead. I was really caught off guard when I was hit with a sudden wave of sadness as I was tossing out old worn out clothes a few days ago.

Gripping my pant legs. "Ma ma ma ma ma"

I have not been a big fan of living here in Terramelar. To be honest, I've had to fight with my inner grump from coming out on a regular basis. I found it odd that I was feeling twinges of sadness. This house, though, spills over with memories for the short time we were here: Bella took her first steps here, we flooded the living room with a birthing pool, Julietta was born here, the café started doing really well, the economy took a nose dive, the café started to suffer, we struggled with money, we ate at Asian buffets, Alex learned how to make paella, Julietta learned to crawl, Bella started speaking Spanglish, and my photography journey began here. There were a lot of difficult times, but I know when I close the door for the last time, I will probably only remember the good stuff.

Here are some photos I took of my girls with their grandparents, or  their "Yayos". In the first few, Bella and Julietta are dressed like Falleras.( Fallas is the biggest festival in Valencia that takes place in March where all chaos breaks loose. It's an amazing festival where they burn these huge incredible sculptures that they spend all year making.)


I was experimenting with some different types of processing, so there is some variation in color, contrast...etc.

And these are from our New Years day family lunch. In Spain, the entire family gets together to have dinner on New Years Eve, and then after midnight, the party animals go out until the wee morning hours. I don't know if it's such a tradition to have lunch together on New Years Day, but it's a tradition in Alex's family. You eat shrimp for both of them!! MMM!

No, this is not an exorcism. The Yayos are very devout Catholics, and Bella likes to play with the cross.

And so does Julietta!

Our Last Halloween in Spain

She liked being the mermaid princess

Halloween. It's special to me. Do I have to tell you all how much I miss Halloweens back home? Since I've lived here, I've done my part to bring the spirit out. We used to do a huge Halloween party at our café, The Bohemian Café, every year. This year was Bella's first year to really understand what was going on, so I wanted to make it important.

Our stawberry/ladybug

I considered taking the girls to the Halloween party with The American Club, but that sounded so overwhelming - making costumes, making a dish to bring, bringing drinks and sweets for the kids, bringing a drink for myself, finding transportation there and back ( it was outside of Valencia and Alex, of course, had to work), and then on top of that, going by myself to a place where I'd only met one person, all the while trying to take care of two kids by myself... I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it just sounded a bit too stressful for what was supposed to be a party.

Not a fan of butterfly wings

Instead I took our leftover decorations from The Bohemian and decked out our house while Bella was with the Yayos. The look on her face was priceless when she walked in to see the walls covered with bats and the windows trimmed with garland. She, of course, wanted to start touching everything, and then she did her rendition of "Cumpleaños feliz" (it evidently looked like a birthday part!).

For costumes, I brought down our box of  costumes from Halloween's past and Paquita borrowed some kids' costumes from a workmate. We all went wild playing dress up.

Good thing we went to all those St. Patty's day parties back in the day.

And Carnival celebrations

I also tried to make a Halloween inspired menu, but we won't go there. I should always stick to being on the decorations or costume committee. Let's just say there was yet another burnt beans incident.

Representin'!! Go Vashon!

I know I said this last year, but friends, I WILL be home next year, and we WILL have a Halloween party together. We can even do it at my house. (I'll be in charge of the decorations!)

A Day in the Life

Spain sounds like a grand place to live, doesn't it? I get that all the time. I think people assume all we do is get together with our friends in cafés, eat yummy food, drink sangria and travel around, taking in the beautiful scenery every day. And let's not forget the massive amounts of siestas we take! We obviously need the rest with the constant fiestas!!

Ok, we do these things... sometimes. But instead of sangria, I usually drink tinto de verano, because it's not as strong and just tastes like sparkly juice. (But WATCH OUT! It's NOT juice! I found that out the hard way!)

Anyway, I thought you might like to see what we do on a typical day, so these are just some candids from around the house the past few days, nothing special, but I  did get some really cute shots that I wanted to share with you.

After the two hours it takes us to get ready in the morning, we almost always take a walk to the park, or go to the grocery store.

Bella likes to copy Alex and sometimes she pretends she's "fadada", or angry.

I left the dog pee in the picture, because it's ridiculously realistic.

Julietta chills and smiles at everyone she sees.

Bella pushes her buggy everywhere we go. Usually it's carrying a sleeping Grinch or Winnie the Pooh.

Sometimes we'll see the Ya yos on their way home for lunch, and they'll stop and push the girlies on the swings for a few minutes.

Juji is very fond of the grass, sticks and leaves, and Bella is very fond of being around her sister ALL THE TIME!

After park time, we'll usually hit up the local grocery store (it's tiny) and buy whatever ingredient we forgot to buy the last time, and then we'll all have lunch together. Alex leaves immediately after lunch, and the girls take their nap.

I know I said the "girls" take their nap, but Julietta has been very erratic lately with her naps. Instead, she usually crawls around, gets into the potatoes and onions in the kitchen, and follows me around.

She doesn't like it when I cook or clean or spend very much time in the kitchen at all. Ok, Juji, I'm not going to argue! I actually spend a lot of this time on my computer, if she lets me.

After nap time, we may see a few breakdowns here and there. We usually spend the next two hours either just playing at home (while I try to get some cleaning and cooking done... and laundry. I MISS having a dryer!!), doing a bigger project, or meeting with Sarah and Christina, our German friends. At 7.15 it's Ya yo time where I get a little break!!! (I love this time of the day) And when the girls get back, the three of us have dinner, story time and bedtime.

I know I have some more shots of the girls playing in the living room, but you get the general idea. This is what we do most days. I get really bored of doing the same thing all the time, and I jump on any chance we get to hang out with other people, but it doesn't happen very often since I am car-less.

I do manage to stay sane, however, because we are getting much much closer with the paperwork for Alex's visa, so we're just waiting now on the interview date. It doesn't sound too intense, so let's all just keep our fingers crossed!

And that is my life. Undoubtedly simpler than you imagined. but simply special!